The Third Tier
by The-Shy-Quiet-One
Summary: Pure-blooded, Prefect, and a Slytherin Beater, Cal is popular with both girls and teachers alike. Muggleborn and stuttering, Spicen is a friendless Hufflepuff who also happens to be a bit of a pain in the ass. What happens when their two very different worlds awkwardly bump into each other? (I suck at summaries. The inside is better. Rating may change.)
1. Library

Disclaimer: All recognizable characters and the world belong to the wonderful and astounding J.K. Rowling.

_**Note: Rating may change later.**_

**The Third Tier**

**_Chapter One: In Which a Library is Actually Used for Its Intended Purpose_**

"Out of the way, Huffledork!" A rucksack hit the stone floor of the corridor. Books, quills, and parchment spilled out, ink bottles from the bottom of the bag smashing and soaking through the bits of paper. A quill was stepped on by hurried feet and the girl the bag belonged to heaved a quiet sigh looking down upon the mess. She waited for the stampede to end as people headed for their classes or common rooms if they had a break in their schedule.

Spicen pulled her wand out of the inner pocket of her robes and siphoned most of the ink off of her books and parchment and then repaired the broken bottles. There was no saving the ink, but at least all the hard work she had spent on her Charms essay wouldn't be for naught. Maybe she could send a mail order away for some new bottles, or borrow one from a professor? She had one bottle left, the one she used to do her homework with, back up in the dorm, but it was nearly empty.

After getting her bag sorted, Spicen replaced it upon her shoulder and hurried down the now empty corridor for the library. She needed to do some studying for a test in Potions that was to be given tomorrow. She disappeared to her usual corner, a remote place next to the Muggle fiction section of the library. It had most of her favorite books there anyway, things she had read through when she was a lot younger. And it was away from the prying eyes of the other students, a place where she felt safest.

After sitting in an armchair with her potions book on her lap, a ruckus on the first floor of the library caused the girl to look up from her book. She rose from her chair cautiously, leaving the book laying face down upon the seat of the chair and made her way out from between the bookshelves and over to the banister that overlooked the lower level of the tower the library was located in.

Two boys, both of their black school robes trimmed with red, flew about ten feet from the ground. There was no doubting they had come in through the open window that was letting in the warm sun of early autumn. Upon further inspection, the two boys seemed to be chasing after a scattering group of students in green trimmed robes and dropping… were those water balloons?

"I'm going to report you to Professor Harper, Hammald!" The only girl in the group of Slytherins shouted, her blonde pigtails dripping with bits of balloon in them as she shouted up at one of the Gryffindor boys. "And you too, Reading! You just wait! Throwing water balloons in the library is especially against school rules!"

One of the Slytherin boys jumped onto a table and snatched at one of the brooms, but he missed and tumbled down to the floor as the Gryffindors laughed and flew out the window, tossing their last few balloons just to be rid of them.

"Leave it, Ofrin." The other boy in the group stated as the one who had gotten up onto the table ran at the window, his wand out. "We'll get them back, easy. Prefects may not be able to give detentions, but we can report them. Hammald and Reading will be in detention for a week after this stunt." The boy shook the water out of his hair and wrung out the sleeve of his robes that had been hit by one of the balloons.

The girl watched as the Slytherins gathered their soaked things from a nearby table. Ofrin and the girl Slytherin left, complaining of having water in their shoes while the other boy remained behind, sorting out the contents of his bag and pulling out his wand to fix them up.

…...

"Stupid bloody Hammald." Callahan Wilkes grumbled to himself as he dumped out his sodden schoolbag on a table and began going through his things. His books and papers were wet with the water from the balloons the two Gryffindor boys had dropped. He'd been hit the most out of the three Slytherins, his head dripping with water as well as one of his sleeves. He tugged out his wand and began siphoning the water from his things, drying them with ease but unable to unsmudge the ink off one of his essays. He groaned, noting it was the one for Arithmancy, one of the more difficult classes the school offered. He'd have to rewrite the entire thing over again.

Deciding it was better to do this in the safety of the Slytherin common room later after classes, Cal shoved the rest of his stuff back into his bag and slung it up onto his shoulder. As he lifted his eyes to make sure the strap was going over his head, they caught upon someone standing at the banister to the third level of the library above.

It was a girl, with auburn hair that swept down her back in waves and covered half of her face. Her robes were trimmed with yellow… just a stupid Hufflepuff. She seemed to notice him spotting her and quickly turned heel, disappearing back into the depths of the upper bookcases. Huh. Normally Hufflepuffs weren't the type to go hiding, but then, they weren't exactly the brightest, were they? Still, there was something about that girl that struck him as being off, even if she was just another dumb Hufflepuff.

Cal shook his head and flicked some hair off of his forehead, heading for the library door where his friends were now waiting for him.

Later in the day, after reporting Hammald and Reading to Professor Harper and watching them get told off and given detention, Cal deemed it safe to return to the library. He did need access to several of the books there in order to rework his Arithmancy essay, it was still six inches too short.

"Ofrin, Baddock, you coming?" He asked as he shouldered his bag, looking at his friends sitting by the fire in the Slytherin common room. Both of them looked up from where they were playing a rousing game of Gobstones and shook their heads.

"Already finished all of my work." Lidia Baddock stated simply, rolling one of her Gobstones at one of David Ofrin's. She had had to change clothes after being hit by water balloons earlier and wasn't about to go traipsing back into the library any time soon anyway.

"No way, mate." Ofrin grimaced as one of his stones shot gunk at him. "I already had to spend half the day in wet shoes."

"Alright then." Cal shrugged and left, making his way up from the dungeons and along the corridors to the library. He looked around the room, seeking out a place that would not be so easily dive bombed. Once Hammald found a trick that worked, he typically did it a few more times before changing it up, no matter if he got in trouble or not.

Deciding it would be best to get the books he needed and head up to one of the upper levels of the library, Cal made his way over to the Arithmancy section. He grabbed out two large tomes from the shelves and carried them upwards. He came to the second level, but it was full of a rowdy bunch of fourth years Madam Pince hadn't come up to speak to yet. Her old knees kept her from going up and down the stairs as quick as she used to. So, opting out of the second level, Cal made his way up higher, to the less frequented third level. This was where all of the books hardly anyone bothered with were, since they were mostly how-to's, self helps, or ugh, of Muggle origin.

Well, at least no one would bother him up here.

Cal moved through the bookcases, looking for a table to work at. There didn't seem to be many places up here for working though. Deciding it best to search closer to the wall than to the banister that would look down upon the lower library levels, he made his way between the shelves of books until he reached the very back of the third level There was a single table here, pressed up against the wall with several chairs around it.

Smiling at his luck to find such a remote spot, Cal set down his back and books, getting out his smudged Arithmancy essay. He started scribbling and was just halfway through to being finished when he felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand up on end. Looking around, his eyes fell to a chair about ten feet away from his workplace, set into a small alcove in the wall that didn't quite conceal it. From where he was he could see a pair of folded legs and a book open upon the foot stool at the end of the chair, parchment resting on it as though whomever was there were doing their schoolwork.

Cal watched as the person leaned forward and found it was the same girl who had been watching from the third level banister earlier. That same stupid Hufflepuff. Her face was completely concealed behind a curtain of hair as one hand lifted the parchment up from the foot stool and disappeared back into the tiny alcove.

…...

Spicen heard footsteps, which was strange for this section of the library. Normally it was quiet and devoid of others for the entire time she was here, in her little alcove of happiness, where no one would bother her. It was even more peculiar when the footsteps seemed to come to a stop, and then a chair was drawn out from the nearby table and the sound of books on wood met her ears. Had someone decided to study up here? That was completely abnormal! The main reason she chose this spot was because it was so remote. It had been that way since her first year at Hogwarts.

Spicen waited to see if the person had made a mistake, but after a bit, when she heard no noise but a quill scratching upon parchment, she leaned forward a bit. Peering around the corner of her safe little alcove, Spicen's eyes fell upon the Slytherin boy from earlier sitting at the only table on the entire third level of the library. What was his name? She wasn't sure, but she was pretty positive he played Quidditch. But then, most of the older students always confused her name wise. She barely paid much attention to the girls in her own dorm, let alone an older boy from another house entirely.

As the boy's head moved, Spicen sat back quickly, not wanting him to see her, though she supposed, he would be able to see the front part of the chair. And then she waited.

Deciding it was safe after a few minutes, and really, what could he do to her? They were both just doing their schoolwork, nothing wrong with that. And it wasn't like she could leave until he had gone anyway. That would be even more nerve wracking than having him so close by. That had nothing to do with him being a Slytherin either. She simply was not a people person.

Spicen leaned forward and continued writing her essay, making sure her hair was in the way of her face. She always felt safer hiding behind her hair, which was one of the reasons she always kept it long and down. It was like she could see them through her locks, but they couldn't exactly see her since the spacing was so small.

"That cannot be good for your back."

Spicen bolted upright with a slight yelp. Having not been watching the boy, she hadn't seen him looking at her, and therefore, had not been expecting him to say anything. She pressed herself back in her chair, hiding again.

"Oh for Merlin's sake." Cal rolled his eyes. What a stupid Hufflepuff. It wasn't like he was going to bite her or anything. He'd simply stated that perhaps working in the chair like that wasn't going to do her back any good. Of course, he'd meant that to stay in his head, but it wasn't like it was a rude comment either. "You know, it's not like I'm some sort of monster just because I'm in Slytherin. You don't bother me, I won't bother you, got it?"

As he waited for a response, Cal glared at the girl's legs, the only part of her he could currently see. She had a bruise on one knee that looked like she'd tripped pretty hard on something or other. He heaved a sigh when she didn't respond and rose to his feet.

Spicen pushed herself back further in her chair as she heard the chair scraping back against to wooden floor. She quickly tilted her head to look down at her lap, her hair shrouding her face and her hands twisting up in the untucked hem of her shirt. She heard footsteps approaching and didn't look up when she felt the boy looming over her.

Cal stood there, looking down on this pathetic little Hufflepuff. She was quite scrawny actually, probably no more than a third year, but looking down at her books… No way was she already studying that! Transfiguration like that didn't come up until fifth year, which was just a year below him. Either she was really scrawny or really smart.

"Hey, I asked you a question, it's rude not to respond." He stated a little angrily. He hated it when people blatantly ignored things he said, especially because he was a Prefect. The Hufflepuff could have at least given him a one worded answer.

Spicen gulped, her lips moving but no sound really coming out. There was a bit of a 'sss' but that was about it. She hung her head more so, her eyes trained on her hands anxiously. The boy seemed to have heard her 'sss' though and tilted his head, raising one eyebrow at her.

"What was that? I didn't quite catch it."

"I-I-I un-und-d-der-st-stunnnn-d-d-d." Spicen stammered, her consonants coming out harder than the average person in her struggle to actually say them. Her whole face flooded with color and the Slytherin boy took a step back, away from her, his eyes wider than they had been.

So the rumors were true. Cal had thought that the Hufflepuffs in his Charms class had been exaggerating when he'd heard them talking about a girl in their house who stammered so bad everyone just called her 'Echo', even the professors. No one remembered her real name and whenever they tried to speak to her and make friends, well… apparently it was difficult. First you had to have the patience to listen, which most of the Hufflepuffs seemed to, but the girl, Echo, was about as skittish as a wild mare who'd been captured, beaten, and escaped.

Spicen bit her lower lip. Countless people from her house had tried to be her friend and help her with her stammering, but all had failed or given up in favor of their own group of friends. She didn't blame them though. She got fed up with herself enough as well… and normally she was too embarrassed of her stammering to say anything back to the kind people who tried to make friends with her. So she'd decided to stick to the library except for sleep, class, and meals, which she ate alone in one of the empty classrooms after getting food from the Great Hall. On the upside, her schoolwork always got done on time. On the downside… well… it got pretty lonesome when you were surrounded by people but no one really knew you.

"Right. Good then." Cal nodded in response, taking another step back and returning to the table nearby. He could have teased her, oh how he could have. He was particularly good at taking people's weaknesses and picking on them when he was with his friends. But there was just something so… wrong about picking on a girl like Echo. He could think of a thousands insults but then, what good would that do? In all likelihood she'd just run off crying and that was no fun. When he picked on someone he wanted to get at least a little bit of argument back. It was more fun that way.

Spicen heaved a sigh of relief as he left, her body relaxing back into the chair. She felt better now that that was over with. She wasn't the sort who was excellent at confrontations, it was always better to avoid those types of things if one could help it.

…...

As September faded into October, Cal began spending more time in the library on the third level. It was actually quite a wonderful work atmosphere up here, out of the way of other students who bothered him when he was actually trying to get his homework finished on time. His friends still preferred to stick to the bottom floor out in the open where they could easily joke around and pick on passersby when Madam Pince wasn't nearby. They teased Cal a bit about his study habits, but hey, they were also the ones asking to look at his work before they finished their own.

Spicen continued to frequent her safe little chair in the alcove, mostly doing homework or reading. Sometimes she would turn the chair backwards and stare out the tall window in-between pages. She liked the view of the grounds from the library. She could see the lake and the mountains beyond, currently covered in an array of autumn colors and slightly snowy caps. The sky stretched far, a crisp blue that made her feel warm as she curled up in her favorite armchair with an old Muggle book she had found in the fiction section.

Cal leaned back in his chair and peered at the Echo girl. When he'd come up the stairs about half an hour ago he'd found her using the footstool to scrambled over the back of the large chair to face the window. If he hadn't known she was there already, he would have assumed the chair to be empty. But then, he couldn't blame her really. It was a beautiful day out and as soon as classes ended for the day he would be heading outside to the pitch to practice his broom skills before the actual Slytherin team practice. He was a Beater, so it was always best to work on his skills extra. The better to avoid and chase after Bludgers.

She was still there, facing the window, not that he wouldn't have noticed if she'd moved. She was always in that chair when he came to the library, like she didn't do anything else almost. So long as classes weren't going on… and he'd even noticed that she was never in the Great Hall either. How was it that a Hufflepuff of all people seemingly spent so much time by themself?

The school bell rang, indicating the end of the lunch hour and that afternoon classes would start in ten minutes. Cal began packing up his things, putting his still partially inky quill away in his quill case so it didn't get on his things.

Spicen jumped slightly at the bell. She hadn't really been paying any attention to the time, being completely immersed in her book. She stood up on the chair and tossed the book down on the footstool before throwing one leg over the back and pushing herself over. Her first foot found the footstool alright. The shoelaces on her second foot caught in one of the chairs buttons as she pulled it over the chair. She gave her foot a tug, thinking she just hadn't lifted it high enough. Instead of her shoelace coming loose from the button, her foot came out of her shoe and her balance was lost. She fell forward, landing chin first on the floor, hands just not enough to completely stop her momentum in time, her legs still on the footstool from the knees down.

Cal turned as he heard a book clatter to the floor and the smack of chin on wood. He winced and dropped his bag back down on the table, moving the ten feet to where the Hufflepuff lay sprawled awkward on the floor. If her robes had been just an inch shorter he probably would have gotten a good shot of her underwear. Now, normally it was against his priorities to help out a Hufflepuff, but there was just something about this girl that made him feel sorry for her… just a little bit. "Eugh, are you alright?"

Spicen winced, her eyes screwing up as pain shot through her chin. Her eyes watered, but she did not cry, pushing herself up off of the floor and onto the footstool, nodding her head. She was quite surprised that the boy had actually stopped to see if she was okay. That was quite unusual.

"You're bleeding." The boy pointed at his chin and Spicen touched her own chin. It was wet and when she pulled back her fingers, quite bright red. "Here, let me…" The boy pulled an old fashion cloth handkerchief from his pocket and offered it to her, but Spicen shook her head. No. She would not accept his help, she was perfectly capable of taking care of herself.

Pushing herself up from the footstool, she pressed the sleeve of her robes against her chin to staunch the bleeding. Then she picked up the book and carried it over to the shelf she had taken it from and placed it away. Cal watched her curiously. Well, she seemed alright despite her bleeding chin.

Spicen returned, grabbing up her bag from the floor and shouldering it. Without a word or glance back she made her way through the bookshelves towards the stairs. Cal watched her go, quite flummoxed. Most girls he knew had always taken his help when they'd gotten hurt. Hell, he'd even acted as a crutch on several occasions, but then, those had always been girls in his own house.

Spicen made her way to the nearest bathroom, preferring to take care of her own injuries when she had a klutzy moment instead of going to the hospital wing. It was just… easier that way. She wouldn't have to explain anything. Besides, being Muggleborn, she knew how to fix things without magic well enough.

After washing her face, Spicen pressed a cold paper towel against the side of her jaw. She could move it alright, but it was still quite sore to have slammed her chin into the floor like that. The scrape wasn't too bad though and it had stopped bleeding now. After standing with the cold cloth against her face for a few minutes, her jaw started to feel a bit better. She dried her face and pulled a band-aid out of her bag. It was pink with little custard colored puffskeins dancing on it.. She pressed it on over her scrape and heaved a sigh as the potion in the white pad met her skin and soothed it. She'd found the band-aids in a shop in Diagon Alley, a place that catered to those not as adept at healing spells or those with children who were more sensitive to the stinging sensation a healing spell could cause when fixing up a cut. There, now hopefully she wouldn't be late for class.

Rushing down the stairs, Spicen made her way for the dungeons. Just two weeks ago, Professor Harper had suggested it to Headmistress McGonagall that Spicen take her Potions O.W.L earlier than the rest of her classmates. McGonagall had been wary of the idea, but had approved it, and Spicen had passed with flying colors. If there was one thing she was good at, it was Potions. It had been agreed that she could join the sixth year N.E.W.T level class and drop Divination which was at the same time. She now had the time the fifth year potion classes were free to do as she pleased.

Quite excited to be at the N.E.W.T level in her favorite subject, Spicen didn't want to be late for her first official sixth year class. She got there just as the last bell rang.

"Settle down, class, settle down" Professor Harper stated in his usual cheerful tone. The class quieted and he waved his wand at the blackboard. The chalk rose and began writing, large enough for them to read, but small enough to get all of the information up. "Today we will be continuing our discussion on the subtle properties of antidotes. Yes Baddock?"

"What is she doing here?" Lidia asked, pointing towards the front of the class where Spicen had taken up a seat by herself. The other students were in groups of three or four around their tables. "She's not a sixth year."

"Ah yes. Miss Echo has passed her Potions O.W.L early with outstanding marks, so she's joining our class. Now then, get out your cauldrons."

Lidia made what sounded like a grumble under her breath and whispered something to her friend Kelsy who sniggered behind her hand.

Cal got to class late, panting. He had forgotten to pack his Potions book that morning and had had to rush all the way down to the Slytherin dungeons and then back up to Potions. He slid into his seat next to Lidia quickly while Professor Harper turned around to grab his own book off of his desk.

"You're late, Mister Wilkes." Professor Harper stated without turning around, a smile playing on his lips. Of course he'd heard Cal enter the room and he knew who was missing from when he'd first looked around the room. The class wasn't exceptionally large, just the sixth years who had managed to pass their Potions O.W.L. with an E or higher. So there were only twelve students in his N.E.W.T level class as it was quite difficult to get above an A.

"Sorry, Professor." Cal sighed, glad he hadn't been given detention or had points taken. He wasn't usually late, he actually rather enjoyed learning depending on the subject and who taught it.

"Quite alright, Wilkes, just don't let it happen again. Now then class, as I was saying. Today we are going to continue our work with antidotes. You each will receive a poison. You must determine what the poison is, and then work on creating an antidote for it. All of the supplies you need can be found in the student storage cupboard." Harper strode about the room with a box, handing out a test tube full of potion to each student. "Do not drink your potion as some of these can kill you. However, if you do somehow ingest your potion, then you will receive a bezoar shoved down your throat and ten points subtracted from your house for pure stupidity. Now then, get started!"

The dungeon was full of the sound of chopping, stirring, and differently colored smoke or steam after that. Cal groaned, not quite sure what the potion he was supposed to be creating an antidote for was.

"Remember, the better you do, the better your grade, however, this is simply practice. I do not expect any of you to get it completely correct the first time through."

"Hey Wilkes, does this look like the Draught of Living Death to you?" Lidia asked, holding up her test tube.

"Er, not sure. Either that or a Salivating Solution. You know, that one that makes you choke on your own spit." Cal shrugged, eyeing his own test tube critically. He gave it a few prods with his wand and then sighed, shaking his head. Well, his best guess was a Paralysis Poison. Now what should he start with?

"Hey, Wilkes, watch this." Lidia said after a few minutes. She held up a dung bomb. "Let's see how smart that stupid Huffledork thinks she is now." She nodded towards Spicen and Cal blinked. Since when was she in their class?

Lidia tossed the dung bomb as soon as Harper's back was turned. It landed, dead on, in Spicen's cauldron.

The dung bomb exploded, sending dung and potion all over the classroom. It hit those closest to it, causing screams and havoc. Lidia and Cal were out of the range of fire, but Spicen got a face full. She let out a yelp as her face started to burn.

"Oh for goodness sake! Calm down all of you!" Harper shouted over the ruckus, heading for his desk and pulling out a large bottle. "Come here if you got sprayed, I'll sort you out."

Those nearest Spicen headed up front to the desk. Professor Harper poured the balmy potion out onto rags and handed them out. "Press the rag against the places you got hit, it'll stop the reaction of the potion on your skin."

As the class tended to their injuries, the noise calmed down and they were able to return to their cauldrons no worse for wear. Harper drenched a rag with the balmy potion and Spicen laid it over her face which had become very red and blotchy. She was lucky to have closed her eyes in time.

"What happened Miss Echo?"

Spicen shrugged, shaking her head and pressing the cloth tightly to her face. It felt amazing on her poor stinging skin. She wasn't sure what had happened. She hadn't added any ingredients to her cauldron that should have reacted that way at all. She'd just been measuring out some powdered bicorn horn to add when her partway done antidote had exploded like that.

"Well let's see." Professor Harper delved into the cauldron with a spoon. "What did you put in it?"

Spicen, her face feeling better now, removed the cloth from her face. She grabbed the leftovers of her ingredients so far and placed them down in order on the table. Harper looked confused for a moment as he peered into her now slightly melted cauldron. He bent over it and gave it a sniff.

"Alright, who threw the dung bomb? Fess up or you all have detention during the Quidditch match this Saturday."

"But Professor! It's the first match of the season! Slytherin versus Ravenclaw!" Cal's eyes went wide. He couldn't miss the first match! Sure, they had a reserve Beater, but still, a reserve was a reserve. They simply weren't as good as first string.

"Well then, someone had best admit to throwing the dung bomb into Echo's cauldron. Let's see. I know Reading likes pranks, but he's a lousy shot." Harper started going around the room, peering at his students. "It wasn't Fulby, Boot, Dayton, or Prewett because I was at their table when it happened. Echo wouldn't corrupt her own potion. Wilkes is a Prefect and unlikely to jeopardize his chances to play in the game this Saturday. Scamander and Morgan were at the storage cupboard. So that just leaves North, Baddock, and Illien."

"Wasn't me, Professor. I got covered too." Illien stated quickly, holding up her balmy potion rag. She was in the table closest to Spicen's with Morgan and North who nodded in agreement.

"Not me either, Professor." North shook his head now. "That stuff stung really bad and I'm not allowed dung bombs, my mum would flip."

"Yes, unlikely but still possible. Which leaves our main suspect. Baddock?"

"Ew, Professor. I'd never touch a dung bomb. Would I, Cal?"

"Er…" Cal faltered, looking at her and then the Professor. It was his duty as a Prefect to help keep order in the school, but Lidia was his friend. But then, he didn't want detention during the game… Hoping she would forgive him, Cal sighed. "She threw it."

"You snitch! Cal, you are such a-"

"Enough! Baddock, detention. Saturday morning starting at six am. I won't take any points off since you came clean about it, Wilkes."

"But Professor…!"

"Not another word, Baddock, or it'll be a week's worth of detentions. Now then, everyone back to work."

The rest of the lesson continued without fault. When the bell rang, the students poured their antidotes into phials and handed them in before cleaning up their things and leaving the dungeons. It was Friday, so most of them headed outside to enjoy the last of the light before the sun went down.

Wanting some fresh air, Spicen put her bag down in her dorm and hurried back upstairs to go take a little walk around the grounds. It was quite warm out, so she wandered along down by the lake, watching the water lap slightly up against the three feet of sand at it's edge. She strolled quite far away from the school building, breathing in the scent of fallen leaves and soon reaching the Forbidden Forest's edge. She had strayed into it once or twice before with Hagrid during Care of Magical Creatures lessons. The old grounds keeper was kind and didn't seem to mind it that she never really spoke. It was their kindred love for animals that made up their friendship.

Cal rose high up on his broom, knowing that his teammates would be down to the pitch within the next half an hour where they would have a good bit of time to practice before dinner. He could only practice with a couple of enchanted Muggle basketballs for now, since it didn't matter as much if they got lost. And if they did, well, they would go back to just being normal basketballs as soon as they left the Hogwarts grounds.

As he whacked one of the basketballs hard away from his head, his caught some movement in the corner of his eye. Thinking it was the other basketball, Cal spun around in the air, but found it was no more than someone walking along the grounds. There were plenty of students milling around at the edge of the lake, soaking up the last rays of sun the day had to offer.

As his eyes trained in on the figure who had caught his eyes, Cal realized they were getting awfully close to the forest. Being a Prefect and noting that the student was probably a third year or so, he decided it was his duty to remind them that the forest was off limits for safety reasons. With a wave of his wand, the basketballs fell to the grass, their enchantment broken. Cal shot off on his broom, landing a distance away from the student. He dropped his broom and Beater's bat and broke into a run just as the small robed figure entered the forest.

Spicen took a deep breathe, loving the scent of the earth and leaves around her. Oh how she loved the forest and it's tangling branches and shrubs. She knew it was against school rules, but then, it was still light out and she wasn't wandering far, just enough so she could admire the leaves. Then she would head right back on out. That wouldn't be too bad, would it?

Stopping about ten feet into the forest, Spicen fingered a bright red leaf, admiring it. It was so insanely pretty, much prettier than any of the other trees' leaves that she could see from here. What kind of tree was this? To have such wonderfully brightly colored leaves?

"Oi!" Cal came running down the path and nearly ran into Spicen, sliding to a stop on the leafy ground of the forest. He paused, staring at her in shock. "You! You're not supposed to be in here! Get out now."

Spicen blinked, staring at him. He'd come out of nowhere and given her a bit of a fright, but his demanding tone set her off. Who was he to tell her what to do? This was the boy who had invaded her area of the library. Wilkes, his name was. She'd heard the other Hufflepuffs talking about him before, how he picked on them and had even made Marble McGadden cry once. Stubborn as a mule, Spicen shook her head and kept walking. No way was she going to listen to him.

"Hey Huffledork! Are you stupid or something? We can't be in here, it's dangerous." Cal groaned, watching her continue down the path, heading deeper into the forest. He followed after her, reaching out an arm to grab her by the wrist, but she spun around abruptly, glaring at him. He glared right on back, until Spicen lifted her arms. She folded them against her sides and began waving them at him… almost like some kind of bird…. "Hey! I'm not chicken, it's against the school rules to be in the forest, Mudblood."

Oh now that did it! Spicen reached out one hand and slapped him hard across the face. How dare he call her a Mudblood! Oh the nerve! "D-d-d-d-d!" She spat at him, her words getting stuck in her throat and making it impossible for her to properly yell at him.

"What the hell!?" Cal yelled right back at her, clutching his face, slightly shocked that she had actually slapped him. He watched as she continued to keep walking, straying farther and farther away from the safety of the open grounds and castle.

Spicen marched at this point, absolutely refusing to turn around so long as he was telling her to do so. There was no way she was going to do what he said, especially after calling her a Huffledork and Mudblood, even though the canopy overhead was getting thicker and thicker by the minute and the sun's rays were disappearing fast. It would be dark out within the next ten minutes or so. But she figured, so long as she stayed on the path…

Cal groaned, knowing he had no choice but to follow her at this point and keep trying to convince her to turn around. He'd have left her and gone to get help, but then, what if something happened to her because he wasn't there? He was older than her after all, he knew more defensive spells and things.

"Listen, we have to go back. It's going to be dark any minute now and it'll be even more dangerous to be in here. There are all sorts of creatures that could-" Cal's words trailed away as something to their right made the shrubbery rustle. A pair of bright red eyes shown through the leaves.

With a yell of fright, Spicen took off, turning around and racing down the path, Cal at her heels, both of them tripping over roots here and there. After tripping on one of these roots, Spicen's sense of direction went wobbly. Instead of sticking to the path, her legs took her down a narrower one, most likely created by deer. Cal followed after her, both of their legs getting caught in brambles and pricker bushes as they ran, heading deeper into the forest now instead of out of it.

When the fear of that red eyed thing had subsided a bit, Spicen slowed her pace, pausing to catch her breath. Cal heaved, leaning against a nearby tree and looking around, sweat dripping down his face. "I think we lost the path."

Spicen groaned, nodding her head and looking around. The ground here was so thick with brambles she couldn't tell which way would take them back to the main path and the castle. And it was so dark now. She could barely make out the whites in Wilkes's eyes at this point.

Cal seemed to be thinking the same thing because he pulled his wand from his pocket. "Lumos." It helped a little, but not by much. Spicen did the same, lighting her wand without speaking. She'd never been able to properly speak an incantation but with a lot of help from Professor Flitwick in her first year, she'd managed to get non-verbal spells down.

"Well then, it doesn't look like we're going to be getting out of here any time soon. Nice going, Mudblood." Cal groaned, noting that nothing in this section of the forest looked familiar. "We'll probably be stuck in here all night."

Spicen shivered looking around. He was probably right. There was no way they could go traipsing through the forest in the dark. It would probably be safer just to stay put where they were and wait until daybreak when the sun would hopefully give them a little more light to see by. Then they could work on wending their way out through the forest based on how thick the canopy was. But for now, well… they were stuck.

* * *

Why hello there! If you've reached down this far, that means you might have actually read the words up above which means I am very grateful for your interest in picking this particular story to read! Either that or you were bored and just picked one at random or some friend dared you to read an OC/OC fic, or, in an even rarer case, I might actually be on your list of author alerts. Whatever the reason that you ended up here, I'm happy you did!

This story is a bit different from the usual stuff I do, and I've actually been working on it for quite some time now and trying to decide whether to post it up or not, though the answer to that is obvious since you're reading this. Anyway, I really, really hope you liked it. I'm insanely fond of this one. I would love, love, loooove to hear your thoughts on it if you've got a moment to spare, especially on whether you think I should continue it or not, although, you've only read one third of what's written for it so far.

Sorry about the long A/N, I do that sometimes on first chapters.

Love always,  
S.Q.O.


	2. Dirt

Disclaimer: JK Rowling's a BAMF.

**The Third Tier**

**_Chapter Two: Dirt and Brambles and Arguments, oh my!_**

Great. Just wonderful. Spicen sighed, looking around the dark forest where the only light was that from her and the Slytherin boy's wands. Well, admittedly it was partly her fault they were caught in this mess. If she hadn't wandered deeper into the forest and then accidentally run off the proper path, they would probably be back up at the castle right now. But he had made her really very angry which hadn't helped either. He'd been quite pushy and rude.

Cal was not happy, not at all. He was going to be stuck in the forest full of dangerous creatures all night with this crazy chick. Because that's what she must be to have gotten them into this mess. And she couldn't even speak properly! Eugh, this was nerve wracking. "Well, we should probably see if there's someplace nearby that we can use as a shelter at least. We'll freeze out in the open like this."

Spicen nodded in agreement, even though she didn't want to admit that he was right about anything at this point. A shelter would be safer than just standing here doing nothing and looking like easy bait. And warmer too. She hadn't worn her cloak and her robes weren't exactly new having come from the secondhand shop in Diagon Alley. She rose her wand higher, looking around the part of the forest she could see in the light from it, stepping cautiously forward, trying not to make any noise for fear that it would attract some beasty.

"Over here." Cal whispered, motioning towards a large tree. Spicen wandered over slowly, peering down to where he was pointing. Beneath the trunk of the tree was a large hole. Cal crouched down and stuck his wand into it but the light did not quite penetrate the darkness inside.

Eyeing the hole, Spicen noticed an old tuft of custard colored fur on a nearby stick. She picked it up, eyeing it and then pointed at the hole. She knew what this was. She tapped on Cal's shoulder to get his attention better, not wanting to have to explain using her words. Once he looked at her, she tapped the band-aid on her chin and then pointed back at the hole.

"Puffskeins? A puffskein burrow?" Cal laughed. "Well, it shouldn't be too deep then, should it? And even if there's any in there, there's no danger from a puffskein!"

Spicen nodded enthusiastically. Boy, they were lucky to have found this type of burrow instead of something else. Puffskeins loved safe little burrows, especially ones with hard to see entrances, like this hole among the tree roots. And they were probably the least formidable of creatures they could meet in the forest. Puffskeins were cuddly and adorable.

Cal gallantly went first, feet dangling down until they hit the floor. He could reach the entrance with his hands if he had them above his head, so it was a pretty straight downwards shot with just a bit of an angle. He shone his wand around, but the burrow was empty. It was large though, which made plenty of space for a puffskein's large litter and the high ceiling was for their ability to bounce so high. The hole would be easy for a puffskein to get in and out of, but not for a predator. And it was perfect for a couple of teenagers.

"It's empty." Cal called back up and Spicen slid down into the hole, swaying a little bit on her landing but otherwise fine. It was no doubt that the burrow would be much warmer and safer than being out in the open forest.

"Here…" Cal cleared a space in the center of the floor of the burrow and then created a small round ring of dirt before pointing his wand at it. Blue flames shot out, landing in the middle of the ring which would keep them from spreading, not like it was going anywhere in the first place, but it was better to be safe than sorry.

Glad for the fire, Spicen sat down close to it, pulling her robes tightly around herself and letting it warm her. The temperature had dropped a lot from that afternoon, but then, it was the middle of October now. The days were only going to get colder at this point. She sat down and huddled closer to the fire, the warmth of it spreading over her body welcomingly. Her stomach gave a grumble, but she ignored it, knowing it was of no use to even bother thinking about food when they obviously were stuck at least until morning.

Cal leaned against one of the walls of the burrow, letting the warm fire encase him in it's warmth. Soon the whole hole in the ground was warmer than it had been by a considerable amount and he stood up, heading over to the entrance. Spicen eyed him curiously as he hoisted himself back up and out of the hole. She rose, wandering over to see what was going on when he came sliding back in, dragging a large leafy branch over the hole.

"Camouflage." Cal explained upon seeing her confused expression. "We don't want anything finding the hole." Spicen nodded in agreement. Okay, so he wasn't all that terrible. He had found them a place to spend the night, made them a fire, and then covered the hole up. She did have to admit it was her fault they were stuck out in the forest in the first place after all. Not that she was going to bring that subject up any time soon.

They sat in silence for a while, neither one ready to go to sleep. It was still fairly early, even if it was already dark outside. Cal felt his stomach give a gurgle and he groaned, breaking the silence.

"It's dinner time." Cal sighed and dug into his Quidditch robe pockets, hoping he had something, anything to eat in there. He pulled his pockets inside out and sighed again. There was nothing but a few bits of paper containing plays he was supposed to have memorized since last practice. Speaking of which, his teammates were probably wondering why he hadn't been at the pitch. What would they think when he didn't turn up in the dorm tonight? But then, they'd probably assume he was off sleeping with one of the Slytherin girls again.

Spicen nodded, knowing how he felt. She was hungry as well, but she could deal with the gnawing feeling in her stomach for a while yet, having done so before in the past plenty of times. It was a familiar feeling, though not one she was as used to having during the school year since there was always plenty of food to eat during mealtimes. Still, she, too, began digging into her robe pockets, seeing if she had anything they could eat within them. She came up with a notepad, a Muggle pen, a couple of old quills, and a few knuts. She sighed, shaking her head in defeat. She had nothing edible in her pockets either.

"Well, looks like we'll just have to wait it out." Cal grimaced and eyed the ground apprehensively. He'd never had to sleep in dirt before, but it didn't look like he had much of a choice tonight. "Well, I guess… we should just go to bed, eh Mudblood?"

Spicen glared at him and rose to her feet, angry. She hated his use of the word 'Mudblood', it was insanely offensive. Her lips quivered with force, her eyes blaring fire as she kicked dirt at him in her rage. "D-d-don't-t-t-t c-c-call….!" Her voice caught, stuck in her throat again, but her glare was still fiery. Her cheeks were pink, eyes narrowed, lips pursed. Cal stared up at her, eyebrow raised.

"How am I possibly supposed to take you seriously when you can't even finish a full sentence, Huffledork?"

That tore it. Spicen kicked him squarely in the stomach. Cal coughed a couple of times, wincing. It hadn't been that hard of a kick, but it still hurt bad enough to render him voiceless for a couple of seconds. He glared back up at her and sat up, pushing himself up off of the ground. "Listen here you! It's your own damn fault we're stuck in this damn hole in the ground without any food for the night! If you hadn't been so impulsive and stubborn…!"

"Sh-sh-shut-t-t-t…!" Spicen clenched her fists, her body shaking, eyes watering. She knew it was her fault, but hearing him say it made it all the more worse. Her body shivered and she clenched her teeth with anger, biting down on the side of her cheek to keep from screaming and lashing out. It wouldn't help anything to do so. Sure, it'd make her feel better, but then where would she be? He could easily just hurt her back.

"What? Cat got your tongue, Huffledork?" Cal goaded her, his pride bruised at having been kicked in the stomach. His voice was sneering, a scathing display of extra loathing. Now he remembered why he hated Hufflepuffs. They were just bloody annoying. He didn't feel bad of making fun of her now, especially after that little display. "You can't even speak properly, what makes you think you're good enough to be called anything but a Mudblood?"

Spicen didn't respond this time. His words hurt, cutting her right down straight to the core. She had always been very self conscious about the way she spoke, unable to really help it no matter how much she tried. She couldn't make friends. She couldn't even go to the Hospital Wing or speak privately with her teachers when she needed help. But no one had picked on her about it so intensely as he was now since she'd been little.

Instead of fighting him more, Spicen turned away, moving back around to the other side of the fire and then to the farthest bit of wall away from him that she could get to. She laid down on the dirt floor and curled up inside her robes, her back to him. She pulled her hood up over her head, tucking her legs up beneath her robes, shivering now that she was away from the fire. It gave off warmth, but the ground was still cold. Cal watched her, not feeling a single ounce of remorse for angering her. His stomach hurt and that just fueled his anger.

Still though, a girl shivering…

Cal heaved a sigh and waited, watching Spicen. She continued to shake, but otherwise, her breathing slowed and she seemed to be asleep. Cal shucked off his Quidditch robes and rose from where he sat in the dirt wearing nothing but his pants and a sweater now. He draped the robes over the sleeping girl, knowing they were thick, made to wear in any weather. He'd be fine sleeping close to the fire.

Cal moved back around to the opposite side of the burrow, laying down on the ground near the fire but not so close that he'd get burned were he to roll over in his sleep. He curled up, letting the warmth of the fire envelope him and the flickering of the blue flames lulling him into oblivion.

It was the chirping of a bird that woke Spicen. She rolled over, stretched out on the dirt floor of the burrow and sitting up. She yawned and went to rub at her eyes, but found both her hands much to dirty to do so. Heaving a sigh, she groaned and stood up, the green Slytherin robes that she'd been under falling off of her. She blinked, looking down at them and then over at Cal who was curled up not too far away. He looked much more… kind, when he was sleeping. She reached down and picked up the robes, brushed them off and carried them over to his sleeping form. She covered him and moved to the entrance of the burrow, looking up at the hole. She could see a bit of light streaming down through the branches that had been placed over the entrance, so it must be morning now.

Spicen moved her way back over to Cal and prodded him gently with her toe. She felt a little bad about kicking him now, since he'd given her his robes to sleep under, but it still didn't quite cancel out his words that had made him deserve the kick in the first place.

Cal groaned and sat up, his face smudged with dirt. He looked bleary eyed up at Spicen and then pulled on his robes, standing up and looking around the burrow. Spicen pointed to the entrance where a slight bit of light was shining through and he nodded. He extinguished the fire he'd made last night and without speaking, they moved over to the entrance.

Cal reached up, grabbing the edge of the burrow hole and hoisting himself upwards, until his feet were dangling and he could peek out through the branches he had used to camouflage their hole. He pushed them back a bit, wedging his toes into the dirt wall to keep himself from slipping down as he was only holding on with one arm now. He peered around the early morning forest, the trees sparkling with dew.

Upon not seeing anything that looked remotely dangerous, Cal slipped back down into the burrow. "I think it's safe. C'mon, I'll give you a hand up." He stated this simply, as he noticed, for the first time, how much shorter this Hufflepuff was than him. No way would she be able to reach the entrance to the burrow without help. He kneeled down and cupped his hands together. Spicen placed one foot into his hands and pushed down while he pushed her up. She grabbed hold of the edge of the hole and scrambled up the best she could, her feet kicking at the dirt walls.

Cal stood up, and as he did so, his frame came to rest between Spicen's legs, her skirt falling awkwardly into his face as his body pressed Spicen further upwards using his shoulders.

Spicen let out a gasp, surprised at his extra boost and managed to grab hold of a root. She pulled herself out of the hole a bit more, using his shoulders as steps for her feet before pressing both of her hands into the dirt and pressing upwards until she fell forward. With most of her body out of the burrow now, Spicen scrambled her legs out and stood up and back, watching as Cal grabbed the edges and pulled himself out with ease. All of his years spent being a Beater had given him excellent strength in his arms, as well as the rest of his body. His core had to be strong enough to hold him with sometimes no hands on his broomstick, as did his legs, so it was vital that he be strong, otherwise there was a bigger chance of him falling off of his broomstick when striking out at a Bludger.

"Well then…" Cal brushed off the front of his sweater, though it was rather pointless with the amount of dirt that had gotten on it over the night. He grimaced, fastened his robes, and looked around the forest, his eyes trailing slowly.

Spicen looked around, her eyes lifting to the canopy instead of their surroundings. She looked, noting how thick the trees were here. It wasn't that bad, which meant they couldn't be too far away from the edge at this point. If they went deeper it'd get darker. She spun around, eyeing the trees around them now and then pointing to where they where they seemed to be thinner.

Cal peered that way as well, and after comparing it to the trees in the opposite direction, he nodded. "Yeah, I think that's probably the way out as well. C'mon Huffledork."

Spicen glared at him but otherwise did not respond. As soon as they got out of the forest she'd be rid of him except for potions class, and that would be that. It would be so much nicer than the past twelve or so hours had been.

As they forced their way through brambles and tree branches, Spicen began wishing she were at least wearing pants. Her skirt and robes kept catching and her legs were not going to be thanking her in half an hour when the cuts from the brambles showed up like cat scratches. If she had been wearing pants she could have at least taken off her robes, but the fact remained that they were giving her, if little, extra protection against the brambles at the moment, even if they were worn out and frayed already.

"Merlin's pants, walk faster!" Cal growled, turning around for what felt like the fifth time. He heaved a sigh as he found Spicen struggling to detach some of her hair from a branch that had decided if wanted to be friends. He griped and stomped back over to her, reaching out and pulling the branch, and her hair, free. Spicen winced, but did not complain, having been unable to reach the branch very well to see how her hair was trapped. "How is it, that one person, can manage to get so caught up in everything?"

Spicen just glared, not bothering to even attempt and answer that one. Once she was free she started walking again, not wanting to even try and make conversation. She just wanted out of this wretched forest and back to the safety of her chair in the library. And perhaps a shower would be a good idea as well. She could feel the dirt in her hair.

Cal followed her now, letting her set the pace and grumbling under his breath every time she seemed to get caught on something. With his pants and longer legs, he was able to get through the underbrush better than she was, with nothing standing between her skin and the prickles but a pair of thin knee high socks. But the brambles were beginning to thin, as was the canopy above. They would be out of the forest soon, and safe from the beasts within.

"There!" Cal pointed, nearly jumping for joy as one of the castle's tower came into view from between the trunks of the trees. It was a lovely sight. Spicen picked up her pace, working on crashing through the brambles more now, not caring about getting her legs cut up in them. They were nearly there!

And then, the trees stopped and they were on the edge of the grounds, not too far from the lake.

"We made it!" Cal cheered. Spicen laughed, spinning in a circle, glad to be out of the forest and back to where she knew for certain they were safe. Oh what a lovely feeling it was. Pure relief and joy.

They made their way back up to the castle, nearly running, torn robes flying out behind them, black and green. Upon reaching the front doors, they slowed and carefully, entered. It was still early after all, and though it probably wasn't too early for them to be up, it would definitely not do for them to be caught wandering in looking as disheveled as they were. People might get the wrong idea.

"Well Professor, I was just wondering if you'd seen Wilkes? He never showed up for practice last night. We found his broom discarded on the grounds not far from the pitch though. That's unlike him to just leave it lying there. And no one else has seen him since classes yesterday either."

"Shit." Cal murmured. He grabbed hold of Spicen's arm and dragged her up the marble stair case just as two figures came striding out of the stair well that led down to the dungeons.

The two dirty students raced around the corner and behind a tapestry that covered a well known stair case that would lead directly to the third floor. They raced up it without a word, not stopping until they had reached the top which was concealed by yet another tapestry.

"We can't go back down there looking like this." Cal groaned, eyeing the bits of twig caught in Spicen's hair. "I'm a Prefect… the rumors.. If anyone sees us they'll think we met up and were doing… things all night. Like… sex things." He continued upon seeing the slightly confused look on Spicen's face. Her eyes widened and she let out a little groan.

"Sh-sh-sh-show-w-werrrr." She managed, her brow narrowing as she fought with her vocal cords and mouth.

"Right." Cal nodded in agreement. He peered out from behind the tapestry, and noting that no one was coming from either direction, they left, running down the third floor corridor and then up to the fourth floor where there were bathrooms. Just as they were about to reach the bathrooms though, voices came from the opposite end of the hall.

"No Mister Filch, I do not know why there would be a cloud of dirt and dust underneath the tapestry in the Entrance Hall, perhaps it needs a dusting?" Headmistress McGonagall's voice sounded slightly irritable.

"I just dusted all the tapestries yesterday, ma'am, just like every other third Friday o'the month."

"Well then, perhaps Peeves…"

"Urgh, c'mon." Cal groaned. He and Spicen turned back around, heading up more sets of stairs to the fifth floor now, Cal leading the way. The last two people they wanted to get caught by would be McGonagall and Filch. They'd get detention, points taken, and a permanent spot in Filch's files for 'befouling' the castle. "I know a safe place."

Spicen stared at him inquiringly but did not ask as he grabbed hold of her hand and tugged her quickly around another corner. They passed by a statue and kept going until they'd reach the fourth door from it. Cal knocked on the door.

"Codswalloping." He stated simply and the door sprang to life, opening. Cal dragged Spicen inside and she let out a gasp, staring around the room in shock as the door clicked, locking behind them. It would not open until they decided to leave.

The room was large, with a huge sunken spot in the middle, like an empty pool. There was a rack of fluffy white towels hanging nearby the stairs into the pool. As she took in their surroundings, Cal went around the tub, turning on each one of the hundred golden taps that sat along the edges of the tub. Understanding now what he was doing, Spicen backed up against the wall next to the door, shaking her head.

"N-no."

Cal looked up and heaved a sigh. "Have you seen yourself? Look in the mirror. No way you can make it all the way back downstairs dressed like that without someone getting suspicious. You don't even have to take your clothes off, Mudblood. Just get clean."

Spicen did as he said and turned, eyeing herself in the long mirror that took up the entire wall behind her. She was covered in dirt from sleeping in the burrow, her hair a tangled mess, clothes torn in places from pushing her way through the forest where there was no path. He was right of course. She couldn't go wandering around the castle like this, especially not trying to get all the way from the fifth floor down to the Hufflepuff Burrow as it was fondly called. She'd be caught for sure!

Knowing there wasn't much of a choice now, she started helping him turn the taps, not knowing what they did really until she opened the first one and bubbles poured out. They were pretty, blue and floating about just high enough for one to catch from the water but not landing. Spicen let out a small laugh, reaching out one dirty hand to poke at a bubble. It didn't pop, but rather, landed on her finger. She smiled, blowing it off and continuing to turn on the taps.

Once the tub was full of warm water in all different colors that swirled like a rainbow and a matching froth of bubbles that were just as different, the taps for the water turned themselves off and the bubbles continued to flow. Spicen smiled, unable to help it. The tub looked so inviting and enchanting right now. The water had to be warm, she could see the steaming coming up off of it… it would be a pleasant difference from the night of sleeping on cold dirt and being chilly all this morning.

"Well then…" Cal smiled and took off his shoes, belt, and tie. Then, without bothering to take off anything else, he jumped into the giant tub. A splash of water and bubbles went up and Spicen watched as he went under.

When Cal resurfaced, Spicen sat down at the edge of the tub and took off her shoes and tie. She was still unsure about this but the water and bubbles looked so inviting… she couldn't resist it. She hadn't had a real proper bath in years, just regular showers. And this… this bath was going to be the best one yet, at least, it looked pretty awesome.

Once her shoes were off, Spicen slid into the tub, her robes floating up around her as her feet found the bottom. Alas, her head went right under and she flailed, pushing herself up and coughing slightly, having not expected it to be over her head. But then, she was short for her age, hitting the chart at just under five feet which was not typical of the rest of the students here who had reached age fifteen.

"Geez, you're so scrawny, Huffledork." Cal noted aloud this time, raising an eyebrow at her. He, himself, had already stopped growing, hitting exactly six feet, which was normal for his family. He watched as Spicen grabbed hold of the edge of the tub and wiped bubbles off of her face. She moved herself over to the stairs and pulled off her robes as they just kept dragging her down. She also grabbed at her stockings, which were mostly torn up now, and set them aside, leaving herself just in her shirt and skirt.

Spicen splashed at Cal, but it was playful. His words hadn't been mean, just observant. He swam over and pulled off his own robes, swishing them through the water and then setting them off to the side of the tub, dripping wet but clear of any dried dirt they'd had on them. They'd be washed later. Upon thinking about it though, he shucked off his shirt next and then, his pants. He needed to get clean and there was no way he was going to be able to do it wearing all of his clothes. And it wasn't like his underwear was going to show off anything when it was beneath a thick layer of bubbles.

Spicen covered her eyes, pushing off the stairs and floating herself to the opposite side of the tub, nervous that his underwear might go next, but she calmed when it didn't. Her white shirt was soaked through, but the tank top she wore under it kept anything from really being shown and she was glad of that.

Cal came up, scrubbing at his hair with his fingers, trying to get the dirt particles loose from it and shaking his head about. He looked quite silly, Spicen thought, but then, she supposed he had the right idea. She dunked herself and started scrubbing as well. Something in the bubbles made her hair lather and she scrubbed harder, trying to get the tiny grains of dirt she could feel on her scalp off. She kept scrubbing until she felt clean and then dunked herself again, the bubbles rinsing out easily as though they were magic, which, on second thought, they probably were.

"Merlin, that is so much better." Cal smiled, relishing the feeling of no longer having dirt in his hair or fingernails. He was pretty much clean now, no longer covered with smudges of dirt. Parts of his hands were scratched up from pushing through the pricker bushes but other than that he was fine.

Spicen had not made it out so unscathed though. Her legs were all cut up with scratches from pushing through the brush. They strung as she climbed out of the tub and reached for her wand, clothes dripping all over the stone tile floor. She pulled her wand from the pocket of her wet robes and pointed it at her shirt first, aiming warm air from it, trying to dry her clothes off the best she could. It would definitely take some time though.

"That's never going to get dry that way." Cal remarked, reaching for a towel as he too, climbed out of the tub. He quickly wrapped it around his waist, not wanting his now sopping boxers to expose anything. Of course, he'd been with several girls before, but not a single one of them had been so… innocent as this Hufflepuff seemed to be. He doubted she even knew what it was like to be kissed.

Cal grabbed up his wand too, but instead of pointing it at himself, he aimed it at Spicen, giving it a wave. The water in her clothes began separating from the fabric, siphoned away by the spell. Spicen joined in once she realized what he was doing, and in very little time her clothes were mostly dry. Still damp in a few places, but that she could deal with. They set to work drying Cal's clothes next, and once that was done, they would finally be able to return to their dorms.

Cal grinned, pulling on his slightly torn Quidditch robes and shaking the water out of his hair. He was glad to be clean, but even happier that he would finally be able to get something to eat! Breakfast would be just starting and he would have to come up with some sort of lie in order to cover up where he had been all night. "You know, Huffledork, you're not too bad."

Spicen huffed, sticking her tongue out at him. "M-my n-naaaame's n-not-t-t-t…!" She spat out, displeased with him. Sure he had been nice and helped her get her clothes dry and stuff. And he'd given her his robes to sleep under last night, but that didn't mean he could call her rude names and get away with it. "S-slyth-therrr-a-ass!"

Cal stared at her, his expression slightly shocked for a moment before he burst out laughing. She looked so insanely pissed and serious in that moment that he couldn't help it. Spicen's auburn hair was dripping wet, hanging down her back, her lips pursed beneath freckled cheeks, arms crossed over her chest, strange colored eyes blazing. And yet, Cal never thought she looked more hilariously adorable than she did now… adorable? Where had that come from? Well… she was pretty small for her age. She was neither remarkably pretty nor beautiful and she wasn't too noticeably curvy… so the word adorable did sort of fit, in a strange way. It was like looking down at a half drowned bird, it's feathers all wet and yet you couldn't help but smile because they were so small.

"D-d-don'ttt!" Spicen glared, his laughter only angering her further. He was picking on her and she didn't like that in the least. It was mean and hurtful even though she should have been used to it by that point. People picked on her on a regular basis but none of them had been so outward about it as this stupid Slytherin!

"I'm only joking, Huffledork." Cal laughed, unable to stop now. "If your name isn't Huffledork, what is it? It's not really Echo, right? That's just a nickname."

Spicen blinked, her face unshrunching. No one else had ever really asked her her name before… even the teachers just called her Echo or Miss Versailles without thinking about it. She stared at Cal perplexedly before her lips moved, sputtering a bit. "Sp-sp-sp…" She struggled, the word odd on her own lips. She'd never really used it before and could only ever remember having heard it coming from the mouth of her mother when she was small. She sighed when it wouldn't come out and the frowned.

Cal frowned as well. What must it be like to not even be able to say your own name? He actually felt bad for her now and pondered this over in his head. He had never really felt bad for someone before, not to this degree at least. Normally it was just a twinge of pity, but this was different. It was like he actually cared about her feelings or something, which was an absolutely outrageous idea to begin with. "What if you spell it?"

There was an idea. Spicen nodded and her mouth moved. Letters she could do fairly simply. "E-essss… p-peeee…. Aiiii-eeee. C-c-cee. E-eee. Ennnnnnn-ah."

"Spiken?" Cal asked, looking confused now. What kind of person named their kid Spiken?

"N-no. C-ceee. Sssss." Spicen shook her head and a look of knowing came over Cal's face.

"Spicen?" He asked, somewhat hopeful he'd gotten it right this time.

Spicen nodded, her eyes widening. How many years had it been since she had been called by her real name? Not since she'd sat under the Sorting Hat at least and that was about five years ago now. It was strange to hear it spoken by someone at all really. It felt wonderful… someone finally knew her name.

"Spicen. Sounds like spice but with an 'n' at the end… Weird." Cal pondered it. It was a strange name. He had never heard anything like it before and that was coming from a pure-blooded wizard. Everyone knew that wizards typically had the weirdest of names so the fact that a Muggleborn had an abnormal name threw him off a bit. "Well then, Spicen the Huffledork. My name is Callahan Wilkes, though I'm sure you already knew that."

Spicen snorted, covering her mouth with her hands to try and prevent herself from laughing. It didn't work very well though. She gave a giggle and then her hands fell as she broke down, chortling and bending in half. She clutched at her stomach, her eyes almost leaking. Why she found his name so impossibly funny she didn't know, but she did. What kind of name was Callahan anyway? It sounded very old fashioned and more of a surname than anything else.

Cal frowned, his jaw clenched as he watched her laugh at him. "Is my name funny to you?"

Spicen nodded and then shook her head before nodding again. She couldn't help it. It had been such a long night without food and she always seemed to get extra giggly when her stomach was empty. However, it wasn't very often that something was able to trigger a fit of laughter in her like this. "C-c-c-cal-la-la-la-h-han-nnnn."

"It's a family name." Cal stated, feeling a bit off put by her laughter. He did have to admit though, it was much nicer seeing her face light up with happiness as opposed to the usual emotions he typically saw upon it. Actually, he didn't think he'd ever actually even seen Spicen smile before. She was always either glowering at him or looking incredibly anxious over something or other. "Look at your name. It's like someone was trying to think of something unique and just made something up."

Spicen paused in her laughter for a moment before she nodded and burst into another fit of giggles. She loved her name, but she had thought of it that way before. When she was little she had once asked her mother what the origin of her name was. Her mother had told her that Spicen was supposed to just be Spice, but unfortunately, in a post-demurral haze during the naming process, her mother had slurred her words. She had said 'Spice and Guinevere' but it had come out as 'Spice'n'Guinevere'. She'd never bothered to get it fixed though, preferring Spicen over Spice.

"Really?" Cal asked as he succumbed to his own laughter. That was the thing about the giggles: they were contagious. Their laughter echoed off the walls of the large room.

A banging upon the bathroom door overcame the sound of laughter and both students fell silent, looking up with wide eyes in the direction of the door.

"Are you in there, Cal?"

Recognizing the voice of his friend, Sam Ofrin, Cal heaved a sigh of relief, putting a finger to his lips, indicating to Spicen that she should be quiet. He made his way over to the door.

"Yeah, it's me. What's up?"

"We've been looking for you all over the place, mate! Why didn't you come to practice?"

"Er… I got a little side tracked.

"Have you got a girl in there? I heard laughing."

"Yeah, how else would I get side tracked?" Cal let out a chuckle. "Listen, I'll be finished in a bit, so I'll meet you at breakfast."

"Alright, mate." Ofrin called back and they could hear his footsteps headed back down along the hallway. Cal waited until the footsteps were gone until he turned back to Spicen. She had her hands over her mouth, though she was so quiet in general there wasn't much of a point to it.

"Well, I'll go make sure the coast is clear. We don't want anyone to see us coming out of here together or they're make assumptions." Cal explained as he shoved his feet into his shoes and made his way over to the door. Spicen just nodded in agreement and followed him. She waited behind the door as he opened it and peeked out into the corridor beyond. It was early enough still that not many people were up. The hallway was safely empty.

"Alright. It's safe." Cal stepped out into the hallway and Spicen followed slightly hesitantly. She really didn't want anyone to see them leaving a bathroom, especially the Prefects' bathroom with it's large luxurious tub. The last thing she needed to have added to her already awkward reputation was that she was possibly a slut.

Once the door had closed behind them, Cal turned to look at Spicen. "I guess I'll see you in Potions then, Huffledork." He grinned when she glowered at his use of that word again, but then her glower was faded out by the very obvious grumbling of her stomach. "I'll go the long way round. You can take the short route, that way there's five minutes between us getting to the Great Hall."

Spicen nodded and turned to the left while Cal turned to the right. He paused, looking over his shoulder at her. "See you around, Spicen."

Spicen blinked and turned to look at him as well. She gave a courteous nod and then continued on her way, her long auburn hair flowing down her back in wet waves. Cal watched her go for a moment before turning and heading along, his own stomach growling. After no dinner last night, he sure was ready for some food.

* * *

Wooo, the second chapter! I really hope you liked it and I would love, love, love to hear your thoughts upon it. Thanks for reading!

Love always,  
S.Q.O.


	3. Curious

Disclaimer: J.K. Rowling's world.

**The Third Tier**

_**Chapter Three: In Which A Slytherin is Curious**_

Cal climbed the stairs up to the third floor of the library, ignoring the chiding of his friends who were staying down on the first one. He studied much better in the solitary silence of the table hidden away from everyone else. The work load of a sixth year student was already immensely greater than that of a fifth year student and the difference was taking it's toll on some of them. Being a prefect, Cal was unspokenly expected to set an example and do well in all of his classes. If other students were to notice him doing poorly, well, they wouldn't show him the respect he deserved when he called them out on rule breaking. Not that they usually showed him any respect when he did that anyway, but it never hurt to try and increase his chances by keeping his grades up to a certain standard.

After he had gotten his books out of his bag and set down a roll of parchment at the ready for the essay he needed to write for Tranfiguration, Cal leaned back in his chair and peeked over at the alcove. The footstool was there, but he couldn't quite see the chair so it was hard to tell if it had no occupant or if it were turned around backwards to face the window again. He let his chair fall forward and undid the top of his ink bottle.

It had been two weeks since the incident of getting caught in the forest overnight. Spicen had not said a word to him nor he to her. Things were back to being just the way they had been, two separate people from two separate houses going along their lives without intersecting. He saw her in Potions, but neither of them acknowledged the other's existence. Still though, Cal couldn't help it if she crossed his mind every now and then or if he tended to peek at her in the library more often than he used to. It wasn't that he liked the Hufflepuff or anything. He just wondered how someone could spend so much time by herself and not seem to crack.

Cal got about halfway through his essay before he let his eyes wander over to the chair again. He rose to his feet and casually strolled over to one of the bookcases, letting his hand skim over the spines of the books as though he were looking for something. With a quick glance over at the chair, he frowned. It was empty, which was quite strange. He had never seen the chair not occupied unless he had a free period where the fifth years were all in a class. Certainly it was always occupied on Mondays after dinner, not that he'd noticed or anything.

Perhaps, just perhaps, Spicen had decided to go to bed early or maybe she'd found a friend of sorts. There were many reasons why she wouldn't be in the library as usual. It was a simple curiosity that had Cal wondering where she might be, nothing more. After all, when one gets used to things being a certain way all of the time, they tend to notice when things change. Thinking nothing more of it, Cal returned to his table.

The next day the table at the front of Potions class remained empty, as did the chair in the library. It was the same the next day and the next. On Friday, when Spicen wasn't in Potions again, Cal began to wonder after her, though he also wondered why he bothered. What did he care if the Huffledork wasn't in class or the library? Perhaps she hadn't been doing well enough in the class and had been moved back to the fifth year Potions class. Although, even everyone else in the sixth year Potions class knew that wouldn't be the case. Professor Harper was always giving 'Echo' points and telling the class they should be working harder. After all, if a fifth year student could excel in class, why couldn't the sixth years do just as well, or even better?

Curiosity finally getting the better of him, Cal purposely spilt his jar of newt eyeballs all over the table. Waving his friends off and telling them to go get dinner without him, Cal began scooping up the eyes and placing them back in his jar as Professor Harper raised his wand to the board eraser to make it clean itself.

"Professor?" Cal asked as he screwed the lid back into his jar and placed it away in his small box of personal potion ingredients.

"Ah, yes, what is it Mister Wilkes?" Professor Harper looked up as he lifted a vial of clear red liquid from a stand and stared through it as though looking for impurities. It belonged to a student and needed grading.

"Sir, I couldn't help but to notice that Miss Echo hasn't been in class this week. Is she ill?" Cal worded his question carefully. He didn't want anyone to think he actually cared about the Huffledork, because he didn't. He was just curious as to where she was. That was all, nothing more.

"Oh, no. Similar, but no. She had to go home for the week to assist her father whilst he is ill. It's a fairly common occurrence, I'm afraid. Why do you ask?" Professor Harper looked up from examining another vial of gunk, though this time it was a preposterously disgusting shade of putrid green.

"Just wondering. As a prefect, I feel it is my duty to look out for the other students. If she were ill, I was going to go to the Hospital Wing and lend her my notes to copy so she doesn't fall behind." Cal held up his Potions notebook, a black leather bound thing filled with parchment he could remove or add to if need be. He had similar ones for his other classes, a gift from his mother when he'd started Hogwarts. Each was embellished with the class name so as to easily tell them apart and then his first initial and last name underneath. When he'd started third year and additional classes, he'd received notebooks for those classes as well. Cal's mother was prideful and wanted her son to do well so as to always uphold their pure-blooded family name with respect.

"That is very thoughtful of you. Perhaps when she returns tomorrow you can track her down. I daresay catching up in this class would be no easy feat if one does not have the notes. The Headmistress did well in choosing you for Prefect, Wilkes." Professor Harper smiled and set down the vial of green goop.

"I like to think so, Professor. And I'll be sure Echo gets a chance to look over my notes this weekend." Cal swung his bag onto his shoulder and started for the door. "Have a nice evening, sir."

"And you, Wilkes." Professor Harper nodded after him as Cal made his way out of the door.

…...

"Fancy a game, Wilkes?" Ofrin asked the next afternoon as Cal passed him and some other Slytherins in the common room. Cal paused to find all six of them holding brooms and he shook his head.

"Nah, that'd make the teams uneven and we've got practice later anyway, so I've got to work on my…" Cal paused for a split second to think of which class he took that the others weren't in. "Arithmancy homework. Vector loaded us up this weekend and I'd rather have it finished so I can actually enjoy tomorrow, but thanks." He waved on his way out the door and quickly headed up the stairs to the Entrance Hall before they could follow after him.

The truth was, Cal had already finished his schoolwork for the weekend the night before. Studying alone in the library as opposed to with a group was making it a lot easier to get things done quicker when there was no one distracting him. No, he had told the professor he would get his Potions notes to Spicen, so that's what he was going to do. Usually when students went home for family reasons, they were back by noon on the day they were due to return. So Spicen had to of gotten back around lunch time, though Cal hadn't seen her, so he couldn't know for sure.

Knowing his best bet was the library, Cal made his way upstairs and then into the land of books. It was pretty crowded, though not nearly as badly as it would be tomorrow afternoon when those who had put off their homework were trying to get it done before it was due the next day. Ignoring a jeer from the Gryffindor boy, Hammald, who had tossed water balloons down upon him and his friends, Cal headed for his usual place up on the secluded third tier of the library.

Before he had even finished climbing the spiraling staircase, Cal heard voices. He frowned, reaching the top and making his way towards his usual table. The voices were coming from this section of the third tier… had someone found his spot and taken it over?

"What are you gonna do about it, Huff-a-lump? Tell a teacher?"

"Ha! As if. She can't even talk."

Cal moved quickly, dropping his bag at his table with a loud thunk before surveying the scene. A Slytherin boy who looked to be about fourteen but tall for his age held a battered book up high above Spicen's head while his mate reached for her school bag. He snatched it up, both of the boys laughing and having fun.

Spicen though, was not having fun. A Hufflepuff scarf wrapped around her face hid all but her eyes as she jumped for the book the boy was holding. It wasn't even a library book, but one of her own personal books from home. It was already quite battered and didn't look like it could take much more. Meanwhile, the other boy was taking things out of Spicen's bag and tossing them about like there were confetti meant to be thrown. Ink bottles smashed on the floor, quills broke underfoot, pages of books and parchment ripped and shredded.

As Cal's bag hit the table, both boys looked up, but upon seeing it was only a fellow Slytherin, returned to their game. Now, Cal was known for picking on other students when the teachers were unaware of it, but right then something inside him clicked. Maybe it was the way the boys were jeering, or the fact that Spicen's eyes had started to water or that she looked so helpless. Whatever it was, Cal would not be having any of this.

"Hey! Cut that out!" Cal moved forward quickly and with one arm, grabbed the first boy's wrist and tugged the book free from him. He tossed the book onto the chair and then turned on the second boy who had the bag. He reached out a hand. "Give it here."

"Man, what is your problem? She's just a stupid Hufflepuff. Hell, she can't even talk right, so she much be really extra stupid."

"I . Said. Give. It. Here." Cal repeated, motioning towards the bag with his hand again. He stared hard down at the boy, towering over him. This second boy… his name was Perkins, Cal believed, was shorter than the first one. He would be easy to intimidate. "Do not make me take it from you because it will not be pretty."

Perkins handed over the bag, glowering.

"Now get out of here before I report you. Go!" Cal shouted and both boys took off running, looking behind them only once before they reached the stairs. Cal could hear them grumbling and swearing as they stomped their way downwards. He ignored them and turned to look at Spicen who was now cradling her book to her chest. "You alright?"

Spicen nodded. She was used to being picked on, though most people only used their words. They didn't usually touch her things or invade her safe little corner of the library where no one ever went. It had been a complete and utter fluke that those two boys had seen her come up here and decided to have to fun by following after her. Her wand had fallen and rolled under the chair where she couldn't reach it, otherwise she would have gotten her book and bag back a lot sooner without any help whatsoever. She was glad Cal had decided to come study, though she wasn't glad he had seen her in a situation where she seemed less strong than she was. Normally she could hold her own pretty well.

After retrieving her wand from beneath the chair, Spicen began picking up the things spewed from her school bag. Half of her books were dripping with ink and all of her bottles were smashed. That was her whole supply for the semester and there was no saving it. Normally she didn't carry all of her ink with her, but the package had arrived while she was on her way to the library, so she'd just taken it with here… and now all of them were gone. She wouldn't be able to buy anymore either… she simply didn't have the money, not even for one bottle. Let alone a new quill… the boys had broken all of those as well.

Cal looked down at the mess the boys had made. He heaved a sigh and fell to his knees, reaching out and picking up a couple of school books that hadn't been hit by ink. "They really did a number on your stuff. Damn, I hope you've got spares in your dorm. That is a lot of ink."

"A-a-all o-offffff i-it-ttt." Spicen stated, standing up and kicking at her completely sodden Charms book. "E-ev-e-ery-y-y f-f-fuck-k-king wa-wa-one." She crouched back down, not caring that she was getting ink all over her shoes, hands, robes, and skirt. She picked up broken quills, all of them shattered to far to repair and tossed them into a nearby trash bin.

"All of them?" Cal asked, quite surprised. Why would she be carrying all of her ink? The he noticed the brown paper of a package half covered in ink and sighed. They must have been new bottles then.

"I-ink. Qu-quillsssss." Spicen nodded, reaching out and grabbing up a handful of crumpled parchment.

"Careful! The glass…"

Spicen grimaced, dropping the parchment quickly as she felt shards of glass from the ink bottles dig into the palm of her hand. She let out a cry of frustration as her hand dripped blood and ink. Just great… perfect.

"Here… Let me see." Cal sighed and reached out, taking Spicen's hand in his and looking it over. He couldn't see much due to the ink, so he pulled his wand out of his pocket. "This might sting a little…Scourgify!"

The ink was roughly wiped from Spicen's hand, only some of it remaining, the rest of her skin pink from the cleaning spell. It hadn't hurt really, just felt slightly unpleasant. Like being rubbed to hard in one sport with a dishrag. Blood gushed up from the center of her palm and Cal frowned.

"Accio glass." He stated, thinking hard about just the glass in Spicen's hand as opposed to the glass on the floor. The glass came flying out of her hand quickly and she let out a slight yelp. Thankfully though, it was only a couple of pieces and Cal dodged it quickly. Instead of hitting him, it whacked into the side of a bookcase and fell to the floor, clinking into more pieces. "Aguamenti."

Water shot from Cal's wand into the gash on Spicen's hand and she winced, but said nothing as he cleaned it out and then, after one more spell, had it healed into a faint pink line.

"Th-th-thannnnk-ksss." Spicen sighed and looked down at the mess still on the floor. This time she was more careful as she began to clean, both of them watching out for glass and getting all but the ink up off of the floor and into the waste basket.

Once everything was picked up and all of the books had had as much of the wet ink siphoned off of them as possible, Spicen repacked her bag and shouldered it. As she did so, her scarf slipped a bit and she quickly grabbed hold of it, tugging it back into place, her eyes full of panic. Cal watched her curiously, not quite understanding her reaction. It was just a scarf after all, and part of it had gotten covered in ink.

"Oh!" A sudden realization coming to him, Cal went back to his own bag and pulled out his Potions notebook. "I told Harper I'd make sure you got our notes from this week. I already copied them for you, and this past week's assignments. I'm sure Harper would give them to you on Monday with time to catch up, but this way you can start early." Cal opened his notebook and undid the hooks that kept his parchment in place. He removed the top five pages and offered them to Spicen with a smile.

Spicen blinked, taking the pages from him and staring down at them. His handwriting was fairly neat and easy to read. She looked from the pages and then up at him before letting herself return his smile, though he couldn't see it with her scarf in the way. He wasn't so bad for a Slytherin… at least he wasn't calling her names right now.

Cal wasn't sure why he was being nice to this small Hufflepuff. Maybe it was from seeing someone else pick on her or his wondering after where she was all week and then finding out her father had been ill, but he had no desire to tease her right then. He sat down in his usual chair and then reached out, pulling the chair beside him out and looking up at Spicen. "Why don't you work here with me for a bit, in case you've got any questions?"

Spicen blinked. Never had anyone offered to study with her. In first year she had been part of a little group of Hufflepuffs that worked together on their homework, but she had always been off to the side. Second year a few people had asked for help on their potions homework, but nothing had ever really come of those times either… Then the requests had stopped altogether when people realized it was faster just to look up what they wanted to know than try and decipher was Spicen was trying to tell them. And now here was this boy. An older student and a Slytherin no less, offering to help her with her homework.

Spicen sat down beside him and pulled out her Potions book before looking over the assignments. A short essay about the importance of dragon's blood. Well, that one would be easy. Answering the questions that had been placed on the board…. Spicen flipped through the note pages and found all twenty five questions already written out right at the very end. Finally, a quiz on what they'd learned that week to be given on Friday Well, she would have to talk to Harper about when she could take that but she could do her homework in the meantime. Thankfully there wasn't too much of it. She had missed out on her actual in class potion making but at least she could make up her assignments.

Except she had neither ink, nor quill, nor unsoiled parchment on her person.

Before she could even say anything, Cal was already pulling parchment out of his own bag and setting it down in front of her. He brought out a jar of green ink and a quill that looked like it had belonged to a hawk. "Almost forgot."

Spicen smiled again and dipped the quill into the ink. Normally she only had black because it was the cheapest to get. The professors didn't care what color you used though, so long as it wasn't red. That was reserved for grading and marking mistakes.

Opening her book to the appropriate chapter, Spicen began to write down the answers to the questions that had been on the board. They didn't have to write the questions down as well, just number them appropriately.

Cal took out his own answers to the questions that had already been graded. He hadn't gotten them all correct. "They're pretty tough this time, so you'd better double check your…" He blinked, looking down at the writing on Spicen's paper. She'd already answered three of the questions and had barely glanced at her book of his notes to do so… and yet, all of them were correct so far. How was it that a fifth year was better at potions than a sixth year? He'd had to look over his information several times before being able to answer the second question, let alone the third!

Cal watched as Spicen answered each of the question, comparing her answers with his and the corrections Harper had written on his paper where corrections were needed. It took her about fifteen minutes to get them and in that space of time she only checked the book and notes twice.

"How did you do that?" Cal asked, slightly astonished. "Those took me an hour and a half."

Spicen shrugged, tugging slightly at her scarf and flipping a page in her Potions book to the chapter on dragon's blood. Her scarf was insanely uncomfortable to be wearing inside when it wasn't even winter yet. It was too hot and kind of itchy, but she had to leave it on. There was no way she was going to be taking it off until bedtime at least.

"Why're you even wearing a scarf?" Cal asked, noticing the way she tugged at it like it was bothering her. It wasn't particularly cold in here. He was fine without a sweater and just his robes over his white school shirt. "It can't be particularly comfortable."

Spicen shook her head and then her eyes went wide and she shook her head again, trying to take back the first one. She quickly let her eyes fall back down to the parchment, trying to turn focus back onto the task at hand as opposed to her odd choice in accessorizing.

Cal frowned, sensing the conversation of the scarf was over, but something about it bugged him. He let it go for a couple more minutes, watching as Spicen scribbled away the twelve uses of dragon's blood, including all the minor details, like who had discovered the use and how.

Cal watched her until she reached about halfway through the assignment. She kept tugging at that damn scarf and it was beginning to make his own face itch just thinking about wearing it. His Slytherin scarf was wool as well, but it was soft as silk while still being warm. Another custom-made thing given to him by his mother. The regular school scarves were alright, but they did grow uncomfortable after a while…

Unable to take it any longer, Cal reached out his hand and gave Spicen's scarf a tug from the end, making it come loose until it hung free around her shoulders instead. Spicen blinked and quickly grabbed for it, but it was too late.

"Ouch."

The whole lower half of Spicen's right cheek was a painful looking dark purple and red bruise that Cal could almost feel throbbing. Spicen quickly looked down at the table and lifted her scarf back up, covering the lower half of her face again.

"How'd you manage that?" Cal asked curiously, unable to help it. That was one nasty looking injury if he ever saw one, and, after years of Quidditch, he'd seen plenty of his share of bumps and bruises.

"F-fell." Spicen shrugged, keeping her eyes glued to the parchment in front of her, but the quill in her hand wasn't moving. Ink dripped a bit onto the spot she held it above, and she quickly blotted at it with her sleeve, starting to scribble away again.

Cal nodded, pondering over how clumsy Spicen typically seemed to be whenever he'd seen her. She wasn't the most graceful of people, still though… "Must've been one heck of a fall."

Spicen didn't respond. She didn't like talking about things like this, she never did, which was why she avoided the Hospital Wing when it came to these minor scrapes she sometimes got. She'd had plenty of bruises in the past and this one would heal in time too.

A few more minutes passed, Spicen working on the assignment, Cal peeking over to check her information compared to his own and frowning whenever he found something he hadn't known. She was smart…at least, in Potions. But his mind kept flickering, his eyes falling on that scarf, wondering about that bruise.

"Why don't you go to the Hospital Wing and have Madam Promfrey fix you up? It'd take her about two seconds." Cal suggested, flipping through his own Potions book, trying to see where she was getting half of the information she was writing down.

"N-no." Spicen shook her head and kept writing, focusing on the task at hand.

Cal nodded and closed his Potions book. Spicen had refused his help the last time he had seen her fall, weeks ago when she'd tripped her way out of the chair in the alcove and slammed her chin onto the floor. Then she'd covered it with a bandage instead of going to the Hospital Wing. Maybe she didn't like nurses or hospitals…

"I'll be back." He rose from his chair and wandered away from the section, his feet heading down the stairs, away from the third tier of the library. He wasn't quite sure why he was doing it, or what had come over him, but he had this intense urge to help…

Back down on the first floor, he made his way over to the group of Gryffindors doing their school work at one of the more central tables. Their eyes locked on him as he approached, an ever cautious sort of attitude between them that was common when it came to any relations between Gryffindors and Slytherins. It was sort of one of those old time unspoken things that everyone could just feel. A strange pressure in the air, like before a really bad thunderstorm.

"Hammald?"

"Wilkes?" Hammald raised an eyebrow, obviously taken back by the unthreatening tone of Cal's voice.

"You wouldn't have any bruise ointment on you, would you?" Cal asked. He knew perfectly well that all the Quidditch Captains carried the purple ointment with them during practices and since Gryffindor had had practice that morning, it was likely Hammald might still have his on him. It kind of bugged him that he was asking Hammald for such a thing, but Cal knew there was no way he could heal a bruise on his own. Those sort of lessons weren't given until the seventh year, and then only if you were looking to become a Healer or had interest in learning it. The only reason he knew how to heal Spicen's superficial glass cut was due to watching others heal his throughout the years. Bruises were harder and required much more concentration, thus, the ointment was preferred by most. Why he was even bothering to sacrifice part of his dignity to help a Hufflepuff was beyond him, but… well, here he was.

"Why? Got a boo-boo, Wilkes?"

"No. It's for a friend." Cal shook his head, looking Hammald straight in the eyes. The other boy stared back at him and then, nodded. Hammald dug into his pocket, pulled out a small, round, metal container and tossed it at Cal who caught it with ease. "Thanks."

"I was going to have to pick up a new one from the Quidditch storage anyway. That one's almost empty." Hammald shrugged, but he was a good guy beneath the sometimes cool exterior. A prankster and a real pain in the ass, but not a total asshole. Even he understood the desire the help out a friend.

Cal headed back up to the third tier of the library where Spicen was still working away. She seemed to be almost finished with the assignment. Cal sat down and set the metal container down beside her on the table. "Here."

Spicen blinked, looking down at the little thing. The label on the top clearly indicated what it was and she lifted it from the table, unscrewing the top. There was a decent amount left, which surprised Cal since Hammald had said it was almost empty.

"You just… rub it on and let it sink in and then do it again when you can't feel it anymore. It'll help it heal faster, usually within twenty four hours depending on the severity." Cal explained, reaching out to pull at Spicen's scarf again. "Originally it was just a WWW after-prank thing, but after finding out that it works on more than just prank induced bruises, most people starting keeping some in their bathroom cupboards. There's a whole shelf of them in the Quidditch shed."

Smiling, Spicen let her scarf hang down and dipped a couple of fingers into the see-though purple gel, getting a decent amount on them and rubbing at her face. She blinked, her eyes closing as a sense of relief flooded the lower portion of her cheek, the pain ebbing away and turning into a light warm sensation that made her slump slightly in her chair. "O-oh."

Cal laughed, reaching out to where she still had some purple clinging to her face and giving it was swipe with his thumb. "Better?"

Spice tensed at his touch, her body stiffening and shying away slightly before she looked back at him and nodded. She replaced the cap on the container and offered it back to him, but he shook his head.

"You'll want it later. Besides, I've already got some in my Quidditch robes."

Spicen nodded, pocketing the container and smiling. She wasn't used to getting along with people or having them be kind to her when they didn't have to be. She knew full well that Cal could have ignored her completely. He didn't have to stop those two boys from taunting her or lend her his Potions notes or give her the bruise ointment. It was strange, interacting with another person in this weird way that almost resembled friendship when they weren't even friends at all. However, it didn't feel bad. Actually, it felt quite nice to not be sitting up here all by her lonesome, just reading or doing her schoolwork.

They spent the rest of the next half hour in a fairly comfortable silence, the only sounds that of a quill to parchment and the distant voices of the other people in the lower portions of the library. The library grew even quieter still as people began leaving to go down to the Great Hall for some dinner.

"Wilkes? Are you up here?"

The voice was loud, interrupting the quiet and setting off alarm bells in both Cal and Spicen's heads. It was one thing to work together when they weren't around anyone else, but quite another to be seen together and in such a way that no one else was even with them.

Without a word, Spicen shoved her things into her bag like a well oiled machine. She swung her bag onto her shoulder and quickly dashed in the opposite direction of the stairs, disappearing behind a bookcase. Cal watched her but didn't call after her. He knew just as well as she did what would happen if they were found together. Rumors would spread and they would both be teased mercilessly.

"There you are! I've been looking for you all over." Ofrin came out from behind the bookcase right next to the stairs. "You coming to dinner?"

"Yeah. Just finishing up here, had to look over these Potions notes one more time…" Cal stated, quickly gathering up the notes Spicen had left on the table and placing them haphazardly back into his notebook before shoving it into his bag.

"Man, why've you got your ink and quill so far out of reach?" Ofrin asked curiously, indicating the open in bottle sitting in the upper left hand of the table. Cal reached for it, pulling it to himself and replacing the metal cap before grabbing up the quill that was sitting beside it, ink dripping out of it. He quickly wiped it clean on his robes and dropped both into his bag.

"Oh you know, just keeping them out of the way." Cal shrugged and he rose from the chair, pushing it and the one beside it back in. "So, dinner and then practice?"

"Yeah." Ofrin nodded, accepting Cal's answer without question. "We are going to dominate against Gryffindor next weekend."

"They won't know what hit them." Cal laughed as he fell into step beside his friend. There was no sign of Spicen anywhere, though, as he turned to head down the stairs, he thought he saw a flash of yellow beside one of the bookcases.

* * *

Yay, chapter three! This one is slow going, but I really, really like it, so I hope you do too! Thanks for reading and please, I would love to hear from you!

Love always,  
S.Q.O.


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